By Julie Shapiro
Tribecans accustomed to quiet nights and friendly streets have now gotten used to an entirely different atmosphere in front of Peppers on Leonard St. at Broadway.
When the bar’s patrons spill out onto the street at 4 a.m., they shout and fight, waking residents, according to First Precinct police reports and neighbors. Residents have collected police reports of three shootings and two stabbings in the last year.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful,” said Carole DeSaram, chairperson of Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee. “It’s outrageous. We’re not talking about the Wild West here — we live in the City of New York.”
A group of residents who live near Peppers attended this month’s Tribeca Committee meeting to protest the violence outside the bar. They hired lawyer Barry Mallin to lobby for the bar’s closure, and they uncovered a history of violations by the bar’s past owners to support their case. A company called Eros/Wonderworks recently took over for the bar’s past owner, MHS Entertainment Corp., and the residents are trying to prevent Wonderworks from getting a liquor license. Peppers is currently operating under a temporary license that lasts until Oct. 5.
Wonderworks president Peter Flores applied for the liquor license for Peppers earlier this year, and he told the State Liquor Authority that it did not fall under the 500-foot rule, which makes it harder to get a new license if there are three or more bars within 500 feet.
But Karen Stamm, who lives nearby, barely had to pause before naming four liquor license businesses that she says are within 500 feet of Peppers: the Knitting Factory, Kori, Matsugen and Lafayette Grill.
“If I can do it in two minutes, I don’t know why they can’t,” she said of the S.L.A. counting the nearby bars. “It’s very inexplicably stupid.”
Bill Crowley, spokesperson for the S.L.A., said the authority relies on the applicant to list nearby bars. In general, if the S.L.A. hears from the community that the applicant is not telling the truth, the S.L.A. will check to see if the 500-foot rule applies, Crowley said.
“Making a false statement on an application is pretty serious,” Crowley said. He expects the S.L.A. to make a decision on Peppers within the next two months.
A 500-foot hearing could make a big difference in this case, because the applicant would have to prove that giving Peppers a license is in the public’s interest. And that, neighbors say, is far from the case.
Mallin, the lawyer representing the tenants, detailed a history of disregard for S.L.A. policy at Peppers.
“This is one of the worst,” said Mallin, who has spent years fighting problematic bars.
The owners have been fined for missing the deadline to apply for a renewal license, writing a bad check and using the name “Peppers” without permission from the S.L.A. (the bar since removed the name from its awning). Also, the owners of Peppers applied last fall to renew their license, but they did not notify the community board. Instead, Flores, the new owner’s president, told the community board he wanted to transfer the license, according to documents Mallin gathered. Crowley, of the S.L.A., said the authority would look into Mallin’s claims.
Flores did not return calls for comment.
Each weekend, the noise outside Peppers continues disturbing residents.
Alicia Kershaw, who lives at 95 Franklin St., said she often hears yelling and fighting as patrons leave Peppers at 3 or 4 a.m. On June 2, the night of the most recent shooting, she and her husband were in bed when they heard the shots, popping sounds that her husband recognized because of his police training. No one was hurt, residents said, but last October, a stray bullet hit a 23-year-old man in the arm, according to police reports.
Kershaw isn’t worried for her own safety, because she is always in bed by the wee hours of the morning, but she is afraid for her grown children, who sometimes come home between 2 and 4 a.m.
“Shooting on the street is a pretty major problem,” Kershaw said. “It’s surprising no [residents] have been hurt.”
Before campaigning to shut down Peppers, Kershaw wants to see more evidence that the violence is coming from the club.
Peppers attracts a young clientele, some of whom look as young as high school students, local residents said. Peppers, also known as Club Fahrenheit, advertises to the 18-and-up set, with slogans like “18 to walk in, 21 to crawl out.” The advertised events, with titles like “Forbidden Fantasy,” often feature an open bar from 11 p.m. to midnight and hip-hop and reggae DJs.
The police reports of incidents within the last 18 months, obtained by residents, showed perpetrators and victims between the ages of 17 and 23, both men and women, mostly from Brooklyn. The First Precinct did not return calls for comment.
Kershaw said she’s somehow been able to get used to the noise, if not the gunshots.
“We sort of sleep through it now,” she said.
Julie@DowntownExpress.com
